carmine lucarelli and james gangl
In the continuing quest to liberate improvisation from the shackles of the games of wits perpetuated by Who’s Line Is It Anyway comes James Gangl and Carmine Lucarelli in Barfly on the Wall at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace as part of The Toronto Fringe Festival, a show that is entirely improvised based on a short interaction with one of its audience members and a perusal through the local newspaper.
Of course, in truth all our social interactions are improvised, so it seems slightly ridiculous to praise Gangl and Lucarelli for being able to improvise conversations with one another regarding the newsworthy articles of the day. I’ve heard that a great improviser must have a brain like a sponge, that continually soaks up information about a wide myriad of topics so that he can pull out references and facts, or at least invent plausible ones, instantaneously, and that is what Gangl and Lucarelli do here with particular flair. They banter back and forth with humorous joviality and then launch into improvised scenes when their banter ignites the spark of inspiration.
I think that Gangl and Lucarelli could benefit from delving more playfully into their characters in these scenes and committing wholeheartedly to the voices and physicality of all the individuals that are steamrolling out of the vivid imaginations. I also was interested in the meta-theatrical theme of this show being explored in more depth. When two comedians banter over the newspaper, where is the line between performance and reality? Is this improvisation or conversation? What differentiates one from the other? Matt Baram directs the show, a role that becomes murky within the world of Improvisation, but I would have liked to see stronger choices surrounding when Gangl and Lucarelli burst forth from their conversation and into the more theatrical realm of creating scenes and building characters. This could be further explored, as in musical theatre, in their transition into the ultimate in artifice, the improvised song.
There are some really interesting ideas inherent in this show and it is one that I think could benefit strongly from being workshopped and explored in more depth.
